Midnight Girl sent in the address for the poster to Elijah Wood's upcoming movie, Try Seventeen. Check it out to see Elijah take centre-stage alongside Franka Potente and Mandy Moore (whose neck seems to be at quite a worrying angle). [More]

Ever marveled at how incredible the Palantir looked when Saruman waved his hand over it in The Fellowship of the Ring? Wondered what material it was made of to achieve that incredible vacuumous black effect? Well judging by an image in the 2002 Cedco day calendar, we have the folks at Animal Logic to thank. [More]

Britain's biggest video rental chain Blockbuster is currently in dispute with AOL Time Warner after the movie giant changed its pricing structure, resulting in the boycott of Training Day, We Were Soldiers and Y Tu Mama Tambien. AOL Time Warner is also the parent company of New Line Cinema...will Fellowship of the Ring suffer the same fate next month? [More]

Aethelthryth writes: I thought you might be interested in this article (Tolkien's Lesson for September 11) on Tolkien, war and what he might have thought about the war on terrorism. [More]

Peony writes: Well so you wanted to know about the DVD, here in Switzerland Orange comunications is giving the DVD free with the suscription to a mobile telephone in Interdiscount store!

According to Robert, Sweden has those Fellowship DVDs in stock: I just bought the DVD here in Sweden, the stores have it in stock but they can't sell them until August 6th, but they do it anyway.

Frank writes: I picked mine up today at a local DVD shop in Gothenburg, Sweden. It's the real thing even though the disc label is a bit blurry (it may just be me though). Can't wait to check it out!!

Wandering Mage Chichiri & UsaBunny write: In the community of San Marcos in Texas, located between the state capital Austin and the city of San Antonio, there is a small restauraunt (specifically more a small cafeteria/sandwich shop) named after Tolkien's Rivendell. [More]

Labatt Blue Outdoor Cinema at the Old Port of Montreal will be presenting our LOTR:FOTR tonight under the stars! The french only presentation will begin at 9:30 at Bonsecours Island (near the Old Port), best of all attendance is FREE!! Take a look! [More]

Rayvah writes: Here is a list of titles that I've found so far scheduled for release 2002! [More]

'Brad Pitt will be joined by Cate Blanchett and Ellen Burstyn in The Fountain, a new Sci-Fi movie from Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky. The Hollywood Reporter says that shooting on the movie will begin in Australia in late October.' [More]

Ford of Rivendell wrote in to tell how you can see snippets of FoTR at Wal-Mart. [More]

From the Forgotten Fairy: I just got back from an employee sneak peak of Austin Powers: GoldMember. While the movie was great, the Two Towers trailer was even shorter than the one with MIIB!! Gandalf didnt talk, the battle scenes were shorter, the narrator didn't say as much ... and still no glimpes of Treebeard!

It appears that the DVD is popping up early at more than just Play.com. Jayjay writes that Laservisual.com have it in stock too.

"My Region 1 DVD arrived this morning!! It is a miracle I made it off the sofa and into work! I went straight to the November preview and the behind the scenes of TTT on Disc 2 and watched a couple of fave scenes on Disc 1."

E-mails have been pouring in from all over in the last few hours about rumours that Play.com has begun shipping the LoTR: FoTR DVD already. Apparently the story goes something like this. [More]

This week the radio show offers another fascinating programme. The topic today is the origin of hobbits. You can tune in to them or listen to them on the Net. [More]

Some people just have all the luck! Long time Ringer fan Bri sends us this juicy tidbit:

Just wanted to pass a note...to inform 'Ring' fans out there...I stopped by my favorite DVD store, which shall remain secret ;) , and they had just received their shipment of the DVD. They are the type of place that sells as soon as they get. Long story short, my precious DVD is in my hands....and it looks spectacular!!!

Fans are also reporting that Play.com lists the FOTR DVD available now and shipping in 24 hours. Interesting considering the DVD's official release is not for 2 weeks. I have a feeling its a mistake...but since I can't make international calls from my real job...I guess we'll have to depend on you European Ringers to check up on it. Drop us a line at spymaster@theonering.net if you find anything out! Thanks!

From Empire Online: Got a news story up today with info on the upcoming issue of Empire stuffed full of Two Towers/LOTR stuff. Catherine Hanly Editor - Empire Online !!!Spoilers!!! [More]

Douglas Anderson, author of THE ANNOTATED HOBBIT, Revised and Expanded Edition, to be published by Houghton Mifflin in September, will be giving a slide show presentation entitled "Annotating and Illustrating The Hobbit" at the upcoming Comic-Con and Gen Con conventions. [More]

No, it's not what you think, take a look at aftonbladet for a new look on our own Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) [More]

Ringer Spy The Green Dragon sends along these pics from his version of mini-middle-earth! Fun with toys! [More]

Annatar sends in this press release: Christopher Lee, star of Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring, will be launching the release of the long awaited Video & DVD of Peter Jackson’s highly acclaimed adaptation of the famous JRR Tolkien novels at Forbidden Planet, 71- 75 New Oxford Street, London, WC1 1DG, on 6th August 2002 from 5pm to 6pm. [More]

ATI Technologies and Massive today announced that they will be rendering scenes from FoTR in real time at SIGGRAPH 2002. SIGGRAPH 2002 is being held in San Antonio, Texas between July 21 and July 26. [More]

Zulie wrote in to tell us you can now get funky Lord of the Rings personalised cheques. The style uses the artwork of of Hildebrandt. [More]

A couple of days ago we reported that a group of Los Angeles-based Tolkien fans are planning a get together to watch a screening of the Fellowship of the Ring DVD. Well, we have some more info courtesy of Kailin on the where, when and how of the party. [More]

Remember the days when we thought Ethan Hawke was going to play Faramir? Ah...the good old days. Davey sends this along today, thought it was interesting: Ethan Hawke was on Conan O'Brien and Conan mentioned how he loves LOTR. Ethan said that at the premiere he was so excited thoughout the movie he was yelling things like "GANDALF FOR PRESIDENT!" "Frodo Lives!". Undoubtly Conan made fun of him by yelling "RUN FRODO" "GANDALF NOOO!". Quite entertaining.

Mary sends along these amazing images and a little note about her small company located in Toronto. Take a look at her wonderful tilework! And get yours today! I wrote a few months ago and mentioned that I was doing some Art Tiles that were Tolkien inspired (Silmarillion) and was encouraged to send images when the works were complete. I have sent them with this email. Just thought you might want to see them. My company is very small, just me, producing very limited production Art Tiles and custom work. Mary P [Wandering Fire Pottery & Tile Works] [More]

Patrick writes: I just received a BudK catalog yesterday, as I had ordered my Sting replica from them. On the cover is an unprocessed shot of Elendil with his sword, and inside there is a short blurb about the sword. [More]

Starting from the next 27th of July the fortress of Agolanti of Riccione will become the magnificent scenery of “Images from the Middle Earth”, a fantastic trip on the paths of art from literature to cinema. [More]

Welp, its the time of the season for new calendars! The Official New Line Shop has released a new The Fellowship of the Ring wall calendar covering from Sept 2002 - Dec 2003. [More]

New Line (or its Australian distributors, Roadshow) seems to have just recently launched a competition for Australian fans to coincide with the DVD release on August 6. After registering, you face a series of challenges each month for a chance to win a cool-looking $10,000 home entertainment system. [More]

It's quiz time again. So, which LoTR elf are you? [More]

Brandon Gray
Boxofficemojo.com

It was a squeaker, but 'Road to Perdition' ended up on top of the box office, beating out 'Stuart Little 2' by just $297,363. Meanwhile, 'The Lord of the Rings' continued to show remarkable legs, down jsut 7% to $106,238 at 140 sites. In 215 days, it has collected $312,965,191. On Thusday, it surpassed 'The Lion King's $312,855,561 to become the 9th highest grossing movie of all time. [More]

Kris writes: Just a note to let you know that LOTR:FOTR is available for rent on VHS and DVD here in Belgium as of last weekend (which is at least a week earlier than was previously anounced). A welcome surprise on Belgium's National Day!

Moocholas writes: Anyone interested in attending the DVD Viewing party in Hollywood, there are still seats available!! This is a viewing party set up by fellow ringers LadyOBloom and Moocholas, and is open to all!! [More]

Ringer Spy lilcritter sends along these scans from the latest issue of Cinescape Magazine! Check them out! [More]

Efforts by the Australian state of Queensland to woo major Hollywood film productions away from its southern neighbor, New South Wales (Sydney) have suffered a setback due to the demands of Brad Pitt, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday. [More]

Riders of Rohan writes: The other day I was trying to find a LOTR Winamp skin I had seen months earlier, and I finally found one of them! It has your mouse arrow depicted as sting(turns blue), LOTR songs on it, and lots more, it totally transforms your winamp! More]

(Norfolk, VA, July 22, 2002) - Touted the greatest and most popular book of the 20th century, The Lord of the RingsTM is an epic tale of good versus evil filled with extraordinary heroes, wondrous creatures, and dark armies of terror. With The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game, to be launched at Gen Con 2002, Decipher brings the epic adventure found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s best-selling novels - and adapted into the acclaimed hit movie - to players and fans around the globe. [More]

Missed all the news this weekend? Well fear not! We've got all the news you may have slept through in our weekly weekend round up! Take a look, cool news not to be missed! [More]